Review of The Public Digital History Project The Star-Spangled Banner Online Exhibit at The Smithsonian National Museum of American History

   1
The objective of the project is to allow the general public and people who can not physically make it to the Exhibit located at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. a chance to view the Star-Spangled Banner Flag in a digital format.  The exhibit displays information about the flag and a history of the flag involving the War of 1812 in an interactive and user friendly design. 2

The objective of this digital history project contributes to historical thinking by providing its viewers with information about Star-Spangled Banner Flag.  It contributes knowledge about the flag because of its “Explore” feature where the website user can click on different parts of the flag and fun facts about the flag will appear.  This is located on the bottom of the website where it states, “Explore features of the flag and discover something new each time you click. Zoom in for incredible detail.” 3
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    The exhibit also contributes to why the flag is so important to American history.  On the websitemain page, right in the center gives you a brief description of the importance of the flag.  The description mentions the U.S. soldiers raising the huge American flag at Fort McHenry on September 14th, 1814 during the War of 1812 where Francis Scott Key became inspired to write the Star-Spangled Banner which became the national anthem of the United States of America. 5  The exhibit contributes to the time period that the flag was used in as well.  On the top of the website, users can click on the tab that says “War,” once it opens it gives you background information on the War of 1812 talking about topics including the capital getting captured, Baltimore in the balance, and the moment of triumph. 6
7
        This online museum exhibit uses many images including some of the images of old historical documents that involved the Star-Spangled Banner Flag.  This exhibit does have the right content and has enough content where it is easy to understand and learn about the history behind the exhibit.  The content is accessible and user friendly.  There are tabs located on the top of the website to click on which include tabs called War, Flag, Song, Legacy, and Interact. 8  On the bottom of the website, there are three sections where you can access a quiz, explore fun facts about the flag, and sing or read the words to the Star-Spangled Banner.
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The user of this digital history project can view all the information the exhibit offers in one click of a button.  The digital history project is also searchable and verifiable as well because it uses a lot of content from the real exhibit in Washington D.C. in a digital form with images of people and important documents like Francis Scott Key’s manuscript of the Star-Spangled Banner poem which eventually became the national anthem of the United States of America in 1931.  That information can be found on the online exhibit as well.  The content is well displayed.  The design of the site allows the viewer to appreciate and use the content.  When the viewer is finished looking and interacting with the digital history project, he or she will have a better understanding of the importance of the Star-Spangled Banner in American history.

The Smithsonian Star-Spangled Banner online exhibit functions properly.  It is relatively easy to access the website.  According to the Smithsonian visitor stats of their museum, 1.2 million people have visited the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. so far this year. 10 However during Covid-19, museum visitor numbers were down all around the United States and the world.  In 2020 and 2021, during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, only 310,645 people visited the museum in 2020 and 570,218 people visited in 2021.  The previous year in comparison, 2.8 million people visited the museum in 2019, before the pandemic started. 11 During the pandemic, the lack of numbers in the museum may have helped the number of visitors on the museum website and online exhibits and digital history projects.  The Star-Spangled Banner online exhibit is sometimes hard to find through the National Museum of American History Website main page.  It is not the most user friendly website when it comes to finding exhibits, the main page mostly gives information about how different events the museum is held and other information about the museum in Washington D.C.  However, if someone were to look up “The Star-Spangled Banner” through Google, it is a lot easier to find the digital history project.  Once the viewer finds the exhibit, it is easy to use and navigate.  The entire online exhibit can fit on an average computer screen without having to scroll up or down through information.  The top of the website has a header with the Smithsonian logo and the title of the exhibit which is named, “The Star-Spangled Banner The Flag That Inspired The National Anthem.”  A search bar is also located on the top right corner of the website.  Below the header are five tabs that lead to different parts of the website regarding the Star-Spangled Banner.  The tabs are the color blue with white text but when the user moves their mouse over the tabs, they turn red with white text which is a nice touch to the American flag theme with the red, white, and blue colors of the flag being used.  Below the tabs is the middle of the website which displays an image of the flag that is on display in Washington D.C.  Next to it is a brief description of the flag's importance and a box that says, “Begin with the War of 1812.” 

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If you click on the box it brings you to the first tab on top of the website where the viewer can begin to click through the information provided through all the tabs in a continuous flow.  On the bottom of the website, there are three sections: collect, explore, and sing.  The collect section is a quiz on the information on the tabs above.  It is designed for teachers or students that want to test their knowledge but the general public can participate as well.  The explore section is really interesting for the viewers.  When the viewer clicks on the link, the flag is displayed with several circles scattered around the flag.  When the viewer clicks on the circles, it gives him or her a quick fun fact about the part of the flag that the circle is on.  The sing section is where you can read the lyrics to the national anthem which includes Youtube videos of people singing the national anthem who won a contest that was held in 2009 when the online exhibit was originally created by Smithsonian. 13

The content and functioning of the project contributes to its overall goals and historical thinking.  The only main difficult thing about this project is finding it.  Using Google is a lot easier to find the digital history project than trying to find the exhibit through the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Website.  But once the viewer reaches the website, everything is organized, easy to access all parts of information about the Star-Spangled Banner, and user friendly.  The information displayed on the exhibit provides the viewer with a better understanding of the history behind the flag including the War of 1812, Francis Scott key, and also all the small fun facts about the making and preserving of the flag.

Endnotes

1    Smithsonian National Museum of American History Kenneth E. Behring Center, "The Star-Spangled Banner." National Museum of American History Star-Spangled Banner: Flag That Inspired National Anthem, Accessed December 18, 2022. https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/

2    Smithsonian National Museum of American History, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

3    Ibid.

4    Ibid.

5    Ibid.

6    Ibid.

7    Ibid.

8    Ibid.    

9    Ibid.

10    Smithsonian Institution, "Visitor Stats," Accessed December 18, 2022. https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/about/stats.

11    Smithsonian Institution, "Visitor Stats."

12    Smithsonian National Museum of American History, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

13    Ibid.

Bibliography

Smithsonian Institution. "Visitor Stats." Accessed December 18, 2022, https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/about/stats.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History Kenneth E. Behring Center. "The Star-Spangled Banner." Accessed December 18, 2022, https://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/

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